Candidates

Myrtle Campbell

NDP

Tom MacPherson

PC

Todd Pettigrew

GRN

Dave Wilson

LIB

Current MLA: Dave Wilson (LIB)

District profile: This riding was known as Cape Breton East until incumbent Dave Wilson successfully campaigned to have it renamed Glace Bay. The new name accurately reflects the riding, which consists almost entirely of the town of Glace Bay.

The district was once the coal centre of Cape Breton.

The former headquarters of the Cape Breton Development Corporation's coal division has been turned into a call centre, while the former headquarters of the United Mine Workers was torn down some years ago during a facelift of Glace Bay's main street.

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2006 results

Candidate

Party

Vote count

Vote share

Elected

Dave Wilson

LIB

3,327

43.08%

X

Myrtle Turnbull Campbell

NDP

2,234

28.93%

Mark Bettens

PC

2,074

26.85%

Todd Pettigrew

GRN

88

1.14%

Voter turnout: 62.78 per cent in 2006

Political history

The Liberals have dominated here for much of the past two decades, with the notable exception of one NDP win in the late 1990s.

That's not to say it's always been easy. In 1999, Liberal Dave Wilson beat New Democrat Cecil Sacchary by just five votes. The NDP challenged the results in court, resulting in a byelection in April 2000 that Wilson won by 408 votes.

Wilson has held the district ever since, winning re-election in 2003 and again in 2006.

2006:

Liberal Dave Wilson was re-elected with 43 per cent of the vote. New Democrat Myrtle Turnbull Campbell finished second while Mark Bettens was a close third for the PCs.

2003:

Wilson received 54 per cent of the vote to defeat Vince Hall of the NDP by 2,078 votes. Bettens was third for the PCs.